A Day at The Races

The 49^th edition of The Men’s All India Railway Cycling Championship came to Hyderabad. The 5-day long championship came to a close on Saturday, the 31^st of March, at the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) cycling velodrome at the Osmania University Campus.

The championship saw the best cyclists in the country (this is not an exaggeration) battle it out in a range of events – road cycling, track cycling, sprint races, time trials, point-races – in individual as well as team categories. All events had equal weight. This means that Gold in a 2-minute sprint race was the same as winning Gold at a mega 2-hour race. Unfair, you might say. But you will soon see that the various disciplines in cycling are actually as varied as entirely different sports.

I went with three cyclist friends of mine – to watch the races on the last day. This was their first time at the velodrome. Their jaws had dropped, and minds were blown. The (then) state-of-the-art velodrome was constructed in 2002 for the National Games held in that year, and the Afro Asian Games in 2003. Made from concrete, this outdoor track at Osmania is 333.33m long. This means that 3 laps make 1km. Olympic standard tracks need to be designed this way. Multiples, or half-multiples of laps must make 1km. The stadium continues to be one of the best in India. It is the second fastest track in the country, the fastest being this gem. The velodrome complex houses children of the SAAP Cycling and Wrestling academies, has administrators’ offices, skating facilities, changing rooms, separate toilets for men and women (this is important), a gymnasium and a large stand for spectators. There is absolutely no excuse why spectators cannot come here for a couple of hours on a weekend to enjoy a good day at the races. Turning up here is more convenient for people than the cricket stadium is – it is right next to the local train station, and has in-house parking within 50m of the arena!

The events scheduled for the last day were the 1km Time Trial and the 20km Mass Start. By no means were these “the finals” of the championship – Central Railway had already swept the medals clean off the table by Saturday – but they had clearly saved the best fare for the end. The (foreseeable) half-hour wait for the Chief Guest of the day meant that we got all that much more time to soak in the atmosphere and the riders got that much more time to limber up. There was going to be enough daylight left, so the officials didn’t complain either.

The 1km Time Trial

How it works: The riders line up next to each other, with support staff holding their bikes from behind. This is done in order to give them the best start possible, to help them gain the most momentum they can. When the whistle blows, the support staff give their riders a push, and the bikers are off, mashing away right from the start. They need to sustain ridiculous amounts of power for the kilometer. First man to cross the finish line wins. This race usually ends with a sprint and a photo finish.

Who won: 1. Amandeep (Central Railway) with a finish time of 1:28. This translates to an average speed of 40.9kmph. 2. Rajendra Bishnoi (North Western Railway). 3. Rajesh Kumar (Eastern Railway)

It is worth noting that each of these riders are had represented India in the past. They were all part of the Commonwealth Squad at Delhi 2010.

Lament: The race got over really fast. How fast? It beat Virender Sehwag’s Pavilion-Crease-Pavilion time.

The 20km Mass Start or Points Race

How it works: Riders line up one behind the other, leaning on the railing of the track for support before the whistle blows. 20km on this track means 60 laps. Every 6th lap (every 2km) is called a sprint lap. Riders must contend for finishing in the Top 4 in these sprint laps. The 1^st man to cross the line in a sprint lap gets 5 points, the 2^nd gets 3, the 3^rd 2, and the 4^th rider gets 1 point. If you don’t figure in the Top 4 in a sprint lap, you don’t get any points. Therefore, the winner of this race is not the one who crosses the finish line first at the end of 20km, but the one who has accumulated the most points in the 10 sprint laps of the race. If it so happens that a rider breaks away and catches up with the main bunch from the back, i.e., if a rider “laps the field”, he gets a whopping 20 points. With so much at stake, this race is not just about power or speed, but a lot of strategy and mind games as well.

Who won: 1. Harpreet Singh (Central Railway) – 44 points. 2 Jataram (South Central Railway) – a heartbreaking 30 points. 3. Rajesh Nair (Southern Railway) – 28 points.

Sarpreet Singh (Eastern Railway) aka Sweety came really close to the podium, with 25 points.

Lament: Jataram didn’t win. The humble, soft-spoken cyclist rides for SCR at Railways meets, and for Andhra Pradesh at the Nationals. We Andhra riders have a soft spot, and a lot of respect for him. This race had two crashes – both initiated by Jataram. Both times, he had a fellow racer run over him. He was bruised in multiple places, and his clothes got ripped. He didn’t give up either time. He would get up, dust, and get on the bike. Rules dictate that you cannot simply join the race after a crash. You need to join the race with the same bunch of riders that you were with before crashing, and that too only after the officials flag you on to re-join. A lot of time was lost there. Since Jataram had lapped the field earlier, there was a lot of confusion among spectators and even the coaching staff about what position he was in and how many points he had lost due to the crashes. He would have won had he not crashed. Tragedy is an old friend of Jatta’s. At the nationals last year, he was on the verge of winning the biggest race of the year, when the race was cancelled a few laps from the finish.

Braveheart + Lousy Luck = Great stories.

The Team Trophy

How it works: The standard format. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are awarded at every event. A medals tally is made, points are awarded, and tie-breaker is the number of Golds, then Silvers and then Bronzes.

Who won: Central Railway stole the show, with 77 points. The Chief Guest awarded them the trophy and medals, setting off a prolonged team photo shoot – but not before he could pull one for the shutterbugs himself. The Chief Engineer was asked to ride one lap of the track. He obliged, and was also humble enough to admit how tough that one lap was. South Western Railway and Eastern Railway finished with 36 points each (SWR had more Golds than ER). Spectators could be overheard saying that Central Railway had won all the Gold Medals at this year’s championship. It was not true. But why let facts come in the way of a good story?

Lament: Some competition would have been nice. Clean sweeps are boring after a point, even for the champs.

More spectators would have livened up the place for sure, but it was a brilliant show nonetheless, if you are a cycling aficionado. If you are looking to follow cycling, and Indian cycling in particular, now is the right time.

It was just another day at the office for the cyclists, literally. It is part of their job descriptions.

Indian Railways has long been a formidable force on the Indian cycling scene. This was a typical display of the Great Indian Railways Setup. They take their sports seriously – scouting the best talent in the nation, giving them salaries, equipment, training, nurturing the athletes and ultimately stamping authority on the big stage. With 5 Olympians this year and Dinesh Trivedi introducing the Rail Khel Ratna Award at the 2012 Budget, things look good for Railways’ Sports.